Folly Beach - 2016

Dec 12 thru Dec 14

--Blogpost written by Bob

This is beginning our third week in Folly Beach, waiting for our sailboat to be re-powered.  We're trying to make the best of a bad situation.  After some consideration, we gave Marine Propulsions (who is re-powering our boat) a tentative go ahead on replacing our transmission with a new one.  (Replacing the transmission will not impact the schedule and the additional cost is reasonable.)

December 12

Yesterday afternoon, we returned to Magnolia Plantation for a second visit.  Maggie went through the flower gardens while I opted for the swamp garden.

I think swamps have a special beauty.  The green patches
on the water in the above image is not algae--it's duck
weed.  Duck weed is a tiny plant that grows on the
surface of nutrient-rich standing fresh water.

In this photo, you can see the encroachment of cattails
on the swamp.  Cattails are invasive and are
competitively superior to other
plants in the swamp.

On a more somber note, this was a grave site near the swamp
garden,  The grave stones mark the burial places of
emancipated slaves that remained on the 
plantation.  One grave marker dates
to 1920 while the other to 1925.

It rained all morning and the sun came out this
afternoon.  I captured this colorful
reflection in a puddle.

December 13

Maggie left this morning, flying to Houston to visit her son and his family.  From there, she will fly to Baltimore and visit with her oldest daughter and son-in-law, and then drive to Chicago to visit her other two daughters.  She will return to Folly Beach in two weeks.  I will remain here in Folly Beach with our two cats and monitor the progress of the re-powering of our sailboat.

A shrimp boat at the dock just north of Folly
Beach.  Shrimp boats are huge--maybe
50 to 60 feet long and are typically
constructed from wood.

The shrimp boat in the above image is on the dock at Crosby's Seafood along Folly Road.  The skies were overcast in the late-morning.  While at Crosby's, I bought a triggerfish filet for dinner tomorrow night.  Triggerfish are caught locally offshore,  I remember these colorful fish while snorkeling in the Bahamas.  I have the filet marinating in fresh lime juice in the refrigerator.

Later in the afternoon, the skies cleared up a little and
I captured this image at the west end of Folly Island.
It is a segment of a drift fence along the beach.

I couldn't resist taking another photo of this dead tree
along the beach on the west end of Folly Island.

It is strange without Maggie here--this will be the first time we've been apart for two weeks since we were married six years ago.
  

December 14

It has been rainy all day.  Looking out our front window toward
the ocean, we have a small front lawn, a row of heavy
brush with a tall palmetto tree, a rarely-used street,
a 10-foot high sand dune, and the ocean beach.

With Maggie away and the fact that we have thoroughly toured Folly Beach and the surrounding area, I spent this rainy day alone catching up on my "frontier reality" shows on cable TV.   NatGeo's "Life Below Zero" and Discovery Channel's "Homestead Rescue" are a couple shows that capture my interest like no others.  (Watching these "frontier reality" TV shows is one of the few things I miss after leaving our comfortable home in Annapolis.)

NatGeo's "Life Below Zero" features four different individuals,
Andy Bassich being one, that are each homesteading
in Alaska and facing the many challenges
of the cold weather.

Homesteading in cold Alaska (the basic theme behind "Life Below Zero" is very far from our chosen lifestyle (selling our house and cruising on our sailboat) but the spirit of adventure is similar.  Fortunately, we don't have to deal with the cold weather.

Discovery Channel's "Homestead Rescue" is about a father,
son, and daughter from Alaska with a mission to rescue
failing homesteaders throughout the United States.

Tonight for dinner, I had sautéed triggerfish (that I purchased at Crosby's Seafood yesterday).  It was OK but not great, a few too many bones in such a small filet.  I will probably try a different local fish next time.

Summary

Tomorrow, I will be visiting our sailboat again in Rockville SC to check to progress of the re-powering.  I'm hoping to see a lot of progress.  Stay tuned...


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